Pablo Sigal
12/15/2020 18:01
Clarín.com
Society
Updated 12/15/2020 6:19 PM
"We are going to have the vaccine ahead of time,
as in the first world
, at an infinitely lower price," said the Minister of Health of the Nation, Ginés González García, on August 12 in the program A dos voz, TN.
The Government had just signed the production agreement in Argentina with AstraZeneca and expressed its optimism.
The minister also assured there that this coronavirus vaccine, the Oxford one, would be available in our country in the
first quarter of 2021
.
Today, the reality is different and countries that signed premature agreements with another laboratory, Pfizer, are vaccinating first.
The government forged ties with both companies, although relationships appear to have been more fluid with AstraZeneca from the beginning than with Pfizer.
In the first case,
the manufacture of the active principle
of the vaccine
was at stake
in a Garín laboratory, owned by Hugo Sigman.
In the second case, it was the work of infectious disease specialist Fernando Polack and the Infant Foundation that allowed part of Phase 3 of the Pfizer vaccine to be developed at the Military Hospital in Buenos Aires.
The results, positive, were known this Monday.
The possibility of testing the Pfizer vaccine in Argentina
supposedly
left
the country
in a good position
to be able to access a number of doses when they were available.
But in the middle arose
short circuits
that delayed the negotiation.
Some sources consulted link the disagreement with that the Argentine government wanted the Pfizer vaccine to
also be manufactured in the country
, as it will be done with the AstraZeneca
vaccine
.
For this, technology transfer is necessary and at that point, everything indicates, it would not have been possible to advance.
Part of Pfizer's success in speeding up its approval were
the 6,000 volunteers tested at the Military Hospital
, an amount that allowed it to take advantage of the other American vaccine, Moderna's, that President Donald Trump decided to "seize" for the citizens of that country.
One possible reading is that those Argentine volunteers, who accelerated the Phase 3 trial, have allowed Americans and the British today to be vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine, while the local population awaits the outcome of Sputnik V and AstraZeneca.
In that August interview in TN, González García extolled the value of betting on the Oxford vaccine, among other things, for its
infinitely lower
price
.
"Pfizer sold its vaccine to the United States for $ 19, while AstraZeneca's will cost
$ 4
," he explained.
The United States, United Kingdom, Canada and other countries, on the other hand, had already decided to bet decisively on the Pfizer vaccine.
They are finally, and contrary to what Ginés predicted, those first world countries are
the first
to apply the vaccine.
However, it is clear that it is not just a vaccine for the first world.
Mexico also announced this Tuesday that on December 22, it will have
the first 125,000 doses of Pfizer's vaccine
at its disposal
to begin vaccinating its population and will be the first in Latin America to do so.
In the middle of the discussion in Argentina,
the Russian vaccine was submitted
, now under analysis by ANMAT at the Buenos Aires offices and by a delegation that traveled this week to that country to
inspect the production plant of
the Gamaleya National Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology.
González García said on Tuesday that he spoke with Carla Vizzotti, who is part of that delegation, and that the official assured him that they
are very satisfied
with what they are seeing
in situ
.
He also said it is "difficult" for the first doses to be applied in the country
before the end of the year
, as Alberto Fernández announced less than a week ago, and attributed it to the logistics of the planes.
The Russian vaccine, if approved, would serve in some way to fulfill the official promise of having the coronavirus vaccine between the end of this year and the beginning of next.
AstraZeneca's had
a methodological error during Phase 3 trials
and is now expected between late March and early April.
According to President Fernández, by the time that moment arrives, he wants to have
25 percent of the Argentine population
vaccinated
with Sputnik V. This would be from the provision of 10 million doses between next January and February.
While the Government seeks to build confidence in the Russian vaccine and has no other option but patience until it receives the one from Oxford, it seeks to explain what are the drawbacks that so far
bogged down
a possible agreement with Pfizer.
González García spoke of "unacceptable conditions" on the part of the company, among which he highlighted that the laboratory considers
the immunity law voted
by
Congress
insufficient
due to the possible adverse effects that the vaccine may have, and the request that Alberto Fernández be whoever signs the agreement.
Clarín
contacted Pfizer, whose representatives preferred not to respond on specific questions, but assured: “We are holding talks with the Ministry of Health
in view of a potential agreement
.
We have no additional comments ”.
González García also affirmed that the dialogue continues and that it could come to fruition, although not at the times they had planned.
Accessing the Pfizer vaccine today is more difficult than it was in the middle of this year, when the first world turned to look for that option as a first alternative.
“Several countries have signed purchase agreements with the company
since the middle of the year
.
This is not the case in Argentina, ”said a source from the pharmaceutical sector close to foreign laboratories.
"It is also true that Pfizer planned to produce 100 million doses and they could only
produce 50 million,
" he added.
He also considered it "extremely rare" that the company requires that the contract must be signed by the President instead of the Minister of Health.
Another source with ties to Pfizer allowed himself to be skeptical of the lower production argument.
And he admitted that although "the company is tough to negotiate, its conditions
are the same for everyone
. If there is no agreement with Argentina it is because our country does not accept something that others accept or asks for something that other countries do not demand."
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